Uranium news from Saskatchewan and elsewhere for May 18 to 24, 2013

With three rigs, three barges and $6.95 million, Fission Uranium TSXV:FCU and Alpha Minerals TSXV:AMW have a busy summer planned for Patterson Lake South. The 44-hole, 11,000-metre campaign announced May 21 will focus on delineating and expanding three zones of high-grade, near-surface uranium mineralization. Additional targets southwest and northeast of the 850-metre trend come courtesy of a radon survey. Ground geophysics will follow up on two “highly prospective” areas spotted by an airborne survey over the property’s southwest and southeast areas. The agenda also includes environmental baseline studies and sampling for metallurgical tests.

The 50/50 joint venture partners patted each other on the back for finding mineralization in 82% of their targets during a winter campaign that attracted widespread attention in and around the Athabasca Basin’s southwestern rim. Their discoveries sit 3.8 kilometres to 4.6 kilometres from one of the Basin’s largest known high-grade boulder fields.

Yellowjacket will focus a 2,000-line-kilometre VTEM-Plus time domain system and 2,000-line-kilometre radiometric survey on parts of its 83,600-hectare Preston Lake project 26 kilometres southeast of the PLS discovery area. VTEM-Plus will search for basement conductors similar to the structures hosting the PLS discoveries while radiometrics will hunt down uranium boulder trains and in-situ mineralization. Although reports will come in daily, full results along with interpretation are scheduled for late July.

Historic Preston Lake work found anomalous uranium in lake sediment, as well as graphitic faults associated with sulphides and anomalous radioactivity. Rock samples of up to 5.4 parts per million uranium might indicate “either the down-ice glacial transport of uranium boulders from source or an in-situ source of uranium,” Yellowjacket stated.

The company’s Preston Lake and Patterson East properties total over 158,200 hectares, making Yellowjacket the PLS area’s largest claim holder. YJK also holds six other Basin properties. On the agenda for its May 29 AGM is a proposed name change to Athabasca Nuclear Corp. (Update: On June 6, 2013, Yellowjacket Resources began trading as Athabasca Nuclear Corp TSXV:ASC.)

We have a plan in place to attack this as a team. With the three companies combined we have a number of highly qualified geologists who have collectively been up in this part of Canada for a long time, so we have many, many years of exploration expertise behind us.—Jordan Trimble, Skyharbour Resources manager of corporate development and communications

“In this market especially, the financial capital they’re providing is hugely beneficial,” Trimble says. “We have a plan in place to attack this as a team. With the three companies combined we have a number of highly qualified geologists who have collectively been up in this part of Canada for a long time, so we have many, many years of exploration expertise behind us. This is just the start of the program. There’ll be lots more news to come.”

UEX offers $3.175-million private placement

Already holding about $10.6 million in cash, UEX Corp TSX:UEX announced on May 24 a private placement of 6.35 million flow-through shares at $0.50 for proceeds of $3.175 million. An additional 1.85 million flow-through shares may be issued under the same terms should Cameco Corp TSX:CCO exercise its right to maintain an approximately 22.58% interest in UEX. The company hopes to close the placement by June.

UEX holds 17 Basin projects totalling 264,363 hectares including its 49.9% interest in Shea Creek, the Basin’s third-largest uranium resource. The UEX portfolio includes nine other JVs with AREVA and one with both AREVA and Japan-Canada Uranium (JCU). UEX holds a 100% interest in the other six.

NexGen hires ex-Hathor/Rio geos, plans Radio drill campaign

NexGen Energy TSXV:NXE snagged more expertise with two new hires announced May 22. Senior geologist James Sykes moved from Denison Mines TSX:DML to Hathor Exploration and from Hathor to Rio Tinto when the latter bought Hathor and its Roughrider deposit in 2011 for $654 million. Sykes is credited with building the 3D geological model of the Roughrider system that led to the discovery of the Roughrider East and Far East deposits.

Exploration geologist Matthew Schwab has a similar background. A member of the Hathor team that explored Roughrider and defined its mineralized zones, he also comes to NexGen via Rio.